Following the post on English yesterday, I quickly flipped Graddol's English Next India: The future of English in India, which is free to download on the British Council's website.
Again, it is very informative and enjoyable. I found some similarities between India and Hong Kong, both being former British colonies for more than a century. Take an interesting example here:
In August 2009, the Indian television channel CNN-IBN carried out a "State of the Nation" poll, which showed ambivalence about English that 87% feel that knowledge of English is important to succeed in life and 54% feel those who can speak fluent English are superior whereas 82% feel that knowing the state language is very important and 57% feel that English making us forget our mother tongue. Adding to these, 63% feel jobs should be reserved for those who speak the state language?
If a similar poll could ever take place in Hong Kong (anyone knows?), how far the results would be different from India?
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